This invention relates to lumber cutting machinery, and in particular, to a band resaw which is capable of making two or more slices in a cant in a single pass of the cant through the resaw to cut two or more boards simultaneously from the cant The wood and lumber industry has long cut cants into boards for use as flooring, pallet members, fencing, or the like. Depending on the size of the cant being cut, and the thickness of the resulting boards, a cant can be cut into two or more individual boards. Cants previously were cut with gang rip saws. Currently, band resaws are being used more frequently to cut cants into boards. With the currently available band resaws, only a single board is cut from a cant as the cant passes through the resaw. Therefore, to cut the cant into multiple boards, the resaws must be connected together in tandem, or the cant must be returned to the entrance of the resaw after each pass through the resaw. The first option, connecting several resaws together in tandem such that the output of one resaw leads directly to the input of another resaw, can take up a considerable amount of space. This requires a large building to house the resaw. The second option, delivering the cant back to the entrance of the resaw, requires machinery to deliver the cant from the resaw output back to the resaw input, and additional personnel to man the machinery.
Further, when boards are cut from cants one at a time, there is a possibility of miscuts. As boards are cut from cants, tension in the cants is released. This can cause the cant to warp, buck, or curl before the next board is cut from the cant. The resulting warp in the cant can prevent the machinery from cutting boards of equal or constant thickness. If boards of a specific thickness are required for an order, this warping of the cant can result in rejected boards.